


From Red to Green With Love Between

by PhoebeDillard



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Sorta slowburn, Soulmate AU, i guess love at first sight, we got pining gilbert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 08:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15360324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoebeDillard/pseuds/PhoebeDillard
Summary: Gilbert Blythe was born with a tuft of red hair sticking out from amidst his unruly dark curls... until the day it turned green.A Soulmate AU where everyone has a streak of hair that matches the color of their true love.





	From Red to Green With Love Between

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be 1500 words and 4 pages long, don't ask me how it got like this.

Gilbert Blythe was born with a tuft of red hair sticking out from amidst his unruly dark curls.

He tried not to hate it, really he did. It signified something that everyone, including him, longed for more than anything else. Something that would bring ethereal happiness and love along with it.

But honestly did his soulmate have to have such an attention grabbing color of hair. And why did it have to be right by his face near his temple? A place where literally everyone could see it?

Why couldn’t it be somewhere else more discreet? He really didn’t like the fact that anyone, literally anyone, even strangers, could look at him and know what color hair his soulmate had just by walking past him on the street. It seemed like too private a detail for everyone to know.

It’s not that he hated the color, Gilbert adored it. He’d spent hours over the years twirling it between his fingers to study it in a mirror, memorizing every different colored strand that went into creating such a vibrant color.

All the dark auburns, strawberry blondes, and bright orange hues came to together to make something that rivaled the colors exploding over the horizon as the sun set each night.

The great thing that came with his soulmate having such a unique colored hair was that it narrowed the search down quite a bit. Unlike his soulmate, who unfortunately had a common plain black streak running amongst their hair, Gilbert had a streak of color that (according to the various textbooks he’d read) only occurred naturally within 4% of Earth’s population.

That along with the fact that he’d so meticulously studied the color his whole life made him sure that when he finally met his soulmate, when he finally laid eyes on the person he was destined to be with, he’d recognize them immediately and they could begin their life together.

If only it had been that simple.

 

* * *

 

When Gilbert came back from his trip to Alberta with his very ill father, the last thing on his mind was the person who adorned the hair sprouting from that odd spot on his scalp.

There were too many other things he had to think about regarding his future. So many in fact, that he walked almost all the way to school the following day in a trance just trying to sort through the jumble of thoughts tumbling around his mind.

What broke him out of his reverie was Billy’s taunting voice echoing through the crisp fall air of Avonlea. That along with the sound of his incessant and annoying barking peaked Gilbert’s interest.

He was able to faintly make out Billy’s figure in the near distance through the thickness of the forest. Gilbert approached apprehensively, not sure what to expect.

Billy Andrews turned around at the sound of his footsteps, crunching the dry leaves and dead branches that littered the path leading to school.

“How’s it going?” Gilbert asked, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

Billy averted his gaze and shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Hey Gilbert,” he mumbled in quiet response. It was silent for a moment, the only sound to be heard were the faint chirps of birds from the trees overhead.

“Yea it’s uh good to be back,” Gilbert said, though his attention was no longer on that of Billy Andrews.

His eyes went past him and landed a girl, a cute girl, one that wasn’t much younger than he was, and one he didn’t recognize.

One with red hair. One with red hair that seemed almost identical to the streak he adorned. One, that with closer examination and a startling realization, he noticed had a black chunk of hair twisting in and out of her left braid.

“Yea um,” Billy muttered, sounding really uncomfortable, “welcome back.”

Gilbert snapped his gaze away from the girl. He flashed Billy a thin lipped smile, not even bothering to make it seem convincing. “Yea, yea it’s good to see you buddy.” They shook hands, he grasping Billy’s harder than needed.

“So you guys playing a game or something. Right?” he asked, knowing very well that wasn’t what was happening, and Billy knew it too. This wasn’t the first time he’d caught Billy bullying an innocent. “Seems like fun but uh we should probably get to school now eh? Hate to be tardy, Mr. Philips sure gets a dander up about that.”

“Yea uh I was just about to get going,” Billy said. He began to walk backwards, away from him and the girl he had been bullying. “See you there.” And with that he stumbled off.

Gilbert watched his retreating figure for a split second before turning his attention back to redheaded new girl. He gave her a brief once over, trying to figure out what to say while calming his ever increasing heartbeat.

“You alright Miss?” he asked, not able to take his eyes off her hair. It drew him in like a moth to a flame. A flame that despite his best efforts, Gilbert couldn’t look away from.

It had to be her. She had to be his soulmate.

Unfortunately enough for Gilbert however, the girl he believed might be his soulmate wasn’t nearly as entranced with him as he was with her.

She met his eyes for a brief moment, long enough for him to see that they were a brilliant blue. If anything else, the contrast made her hair seem even brighter a red.

She opened her mouth as if she were to speak, but instead she dropped down to the ground on her knees and began to pick up all of her things which were scattered around her feet.

“School,” she muttered, picking up her basket of lunch.

The girl stood up and brushed past Gilbert, not once taking a look at him. “You’re welcome,” he said, right as she passed him.

Gilbert wanted to raise an eyebrow at her behavior, but it would’ve been pointless because no one was around to see it. “Need anything else?” he called out after her as she retreated further down the path to school. “Any dragons around here need slaying?”

“No!” she yelled back in response. “Thank you!”

He stopped in his tracks, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion. “Hey!” he said loudly so she could hear him over the growing distance between them. “Who are you?” Gilbert held his breath while his heart skipped a beat, waiting for a response.

When it became clear she wasn’t going to stop and chat, he did the only thing that came to mind. He chased after her. “Miss! What’s your name?”

She still wouldn’t answer him, but Gilbert wasn’t one to give up easily, especially when it came to matters of importance. And this, this was important. For all he knew, the girl he was chasing after might be the one fate decided he was destined to be with.

And he couldn’t let an opportunity like that slip away.

“What?” he said with a light chuckle as he and the girl walked up the steps of the school house. “You can’t tell me your name?” Gilbert jogged a few steps ahead and opened the door, holding it open like the gentlemen he was raised to be and let her go in first.

The sound of chatter exploded around him as he stepped into the school house after the girl, closing the door shut behind them and taking off his hat.

All he wanted was a name. Could she not even give him that? It wasn’t like he asking her to tell him her biggest secret or whole life story.

Just as he was about to open his mouth and speak again, the girl turned to face Gilbert. And for the first time, he got a good look at her. Her eyes, her freckles, the shape of her upturned nose, and the stray red hairs that escaped her braids and fell into her face messily.

And most importantly, she got a good look at him. Her pink lips parted slightly as her eyes took his face in, and her pupils widened as they fell upon his hair.

Gilbert’s breath hitched in his throat. He could hear the beat of his heart in his ears as it hammered against his ribcage.

She met his gaze once more, looking a little apprehensive. A moment passed. They merely stared at each other, not saying a word.

She gave him a small smile. “I’m Anne.”

Gilbert smiled back and looked down at his feet, then up at her again. “I’m Gil-“

But before he could properly introduce himself, he was whisked away by a group of boys that unlike Anne, couldn’t look more excited to see him.

 

* * *

 

By the next afternoon, Gilbert was becoming more and more confused by the minute. He didn’t imagine it would be this hard to get his soulmate to talk to him. Or at least, a person who he thought was his soulmate.

He tried to talk to Anne, he even offered her an apple from the orchard, but all she did was ignore him, and Gilbert didn’t know why.

From all the stories he’d inadvertently heard over the years, meeting your soulmate was always described as some sort of fairytale love at first sight experience. Sparks were supposed to fly as your eyes met each other’s odd streak of hair for the first time while hearts stopped beating at the meeting of eyes.

It was supposed to be, well, simple. And with Anne, it just wasn’t.

Maybe they weren’t soulmates after-all.

Sure Anne had a black streak running through her braid and fiery red hair that looked almost like his own odd streak, but there were a lot of people on Earth with black hair. And Anne might just be another person apart of the 4% of the population who has naturally red hair.

Maybe Gilbert was looking too hard. Maybe he was trying to force something that just wasn’t there. Maybe Anne coming to Avonlea of all the places in the world wasn’t fate. Maybe their meeting wasn’t fate either.

Maybe it was all just one huge coincidence.

But he could’ve sworn there was something there. Something almost tangible between them. An electric charge that intensified the air between them anytime their eyes met. A pull that made it almost impossible for Gilbert to be in the near vicinity of Anne without gazing at her in wonderment.

She was something alright, and it only took knowing her for a few hours to realize that. So he was gonna give it one more shot. And if things didn’t fall into place, if fate decided they weren’t meant to be, he’d move on, and keep searching in every crowd for a girl with gorgeous red hair.

Just like Anne Shirley’s.

In retrospect, the plan Gilbert came up with was literal shit. You’d think someone as smart as him would be able to come up with something better, but sadly it seems as though that intellect only applied to academic endeavors. Not girls. Not by a longshot.

The class room was dead silent as everyone focused on solving their math sums. The sound of chalk scraping against slate filled the air along with the occasional sniffle. No one spoke, not even Mr. Phillips.

Gilbert finished his math work early, and with nothing else to occupy his attention, he looked to Anne. She was focused on her work still, her eyes not straying from the slate once.

As always, his gaze fell upon that streak of black hair that twisted through her left braid. It mocked him silently, much like he and the other students did to Mr. Phillips behind his back.

He began to twirl his streak of red hair absentmindedly between his fingers, getting lost in thought. It was an odd habit he’d picked up over the years, and one he didn’t think would stop anytime soon.

Gilbert sat up straight in his chair with a newfound purpose. He was going to get Anne to talk to him, if it was the last thing he ever did.

He took a quick glance around the room, picked up a decent sized piece of chalk, bit his bottom lip in concentration, honed in on Anne’s shoulder, and tossed it. He missed by a mere inch, but it did its job. It got her attention.

Anne stopped writing on her slate and stared at it intensely. She gripped her own piece of chalk harder, not bothering to look up.

A few others stopped what they were doing and looked up to see what was going on, but Gilbert didn’t care. He threw another piece. And this time it bounced off her shoulder.

Anne sat up straight this time, dropping her piece of chalk on the desk. She clenched her jaw and balled her hands into fists. Still, she didn’t look at him or utter one word.

A lot more people were watching now, almost everyone except Mr. Phillips. Anne was going to have to talk to him eventually if she wanted him to stop.

Gilbert glanced at the apple by the corner of his desk. He picked it up. Looking up to see if Mr. Phillips was still turned towards the board, he got up out of his seat and crouched down next to Anne.

He watched her face carefully not having ever been this close to her before, heart once again racing while his cheeks tingled.

He put the apple on the corner of her desk. “Oops,” he whispered, not looking away from her.

Anne still chose ignore his presence, and Gilbert was getting desperate. He just had to know once and for all if they were soulmates.

So he started to think of things he could do that would drive her to a point where she just had to talk to him. And it didn’t take long for him to come up with something.

Growing up, he vaguely remembered people teasing him about the one tuft of red hair he had sprouting from his head. They’d tug on it harshly and annoyingly call him Carrots as a way to get a rise out of him.

If it annoyed Gilbert, someone with only one small piece of bright red hair, there’s no way it wouldn’t annoy Anne, someone with a full head of it.

 _Well_ , he thought to himself, _desperate times call for desperate measures_.

So Gilbert took a look at Anne, the girl he believed that he was destined to be with, grabbed the end of her braid, and pulled it. “Carrots,” he said, in an attempt to get her attention.

And boy did it work. He definitely got her attention.

“I’m not talking to you!” Anne yelled in anger, standing up out of her seat. He stood up as well in surprise while she wacked him across the cheek with her slate.

The room let out one collective gasp. Well, he can’t say he didn’t deserve it.

Rubbing his cheek with a slight wince, he looked down at Anne who stood as still as a statue. She looked up at him with parted lips and widened eyes, her cheeks blossoming with color.

He leaned in closer, curling one end of his lips upward. “You just did.”

Anne looked at him horrified, and he looked at her with regret as Mr. Phillips called her up to the front of the room while the kids around him laughed.

The look on her face broke his heart to pieces. “It’s my fault sir,” he rushed out, standing up out of his seat. “I teased her.”

He was shocked with Mr. Philips’s lack of reprise, though really he shouldn’t have been. Everyone, even Billy Andrews, could admit that he treated girls unfairly.

What surprised Gilbert the most though, what made him feel as though he were the worst person ever to exist in the history of human kind, was the look Anne gave him as she passed him on her way out of the classroom.

Her face was void of almost all emotion except for her eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes, the ones that had a permanent twinkle to them, met his with a glint of pure unadulterated fury. They darkened a shade almost instantaneously, hatred radiated off her in waves.

If looked could kill, Gilbert would’ve been 6 feet under.

As Anne’s figure disappeared through the doorway of the school house, a heavy weight settled over Gilbert’s heart. He stared down at his desk dejectedly, once again twirling his piece of red hair between his fingers.

“Anne Shirley- Cuthbert is not your soulmate,” Gilbert mumbled, trying to convince himself of the fact more than anyone else. “Hell,” he sat back in his chair and watched as Mr. Phillip’s continued the lesson, exhaling a deep breathe, “She isn’t even your friend.”

 

* * *

 

Gilbert never for a moment even considered the possibility that Anne could be his soulmate after that day until he ran into her a few weeks later after his father died in Charlottetown.

As he passed by the window of a pawn shop, his attention was snared by a head of gorgeous red hair. Gilbert stopped in his tracks, heart beating out his chest, and peered into the window more closely.

An odd feeling overcame him when he realized it was Anne. He should’ve known, those braids were unmistakably hers.

He watched her talk to the shop’s owner for a while with exaggerated hand gestures and facial expressions. He knew her well enough to know that she telling some story, and by the look on the shop owner’s face, he seemed to be buying into it.

With an apprehensive expression, he turned around and walked over to the cash register. Anne smiled wildly did a quick dance of celebration behind his back. Gilbert suppressed a laugh at the sight, a light smile overcoming his lips.

As she took the money with a face of triumph and began to walk towards the exit, Gilbert knew that it was time he go. But his legs stayed still against his better judgement, and as Anne exited to store, the bell above it ringing sharply, their eyes met.

Her lips parted in surprise. Anne almost looked… happy to see him.

“Gilbert,” she breathed out at the same time he said, “Anne.”

“Gilbert,” she repeated at the same time he said, “Hello.”

They looked at each other in silence for a moment, neither spoke. Gilbert wanted to say something, anything, but his mouth and brain weren’t able to coordinate properly. His attention was focused on keeping his gaze away from the strand of black hair that plagued his dreams.

Anne was the one to break the silence, letting out a shaky breath. “I- I think I need to sit down.”

Gilbert nodded his head and gave her small smile. “Sure.” He gently placed a gloved hand on the crook of her elbow, leading her away from the pawn shop.

They stumbled across a small café and decided to go sit inside. Not for coffee, but because it was mostly empty and a way to get out of the biting cold weather.

They sat across from each other, mugs of hot tea in their hands and a plate of shortbread in between them. From anyone looking inside, it might’ve looked like they were on a date.

 _But we’re not_ , Gilbert kept telling himself, _we’re not on a date. Anne isn’t your soulmate, she doesn’t like you, and she might just now be able to start tolerating you._

He repeated that mantra in his head over and over like a broken record every time she looked up at him from beneath her lashes, every time a ray of sunlight hit her hair just right illuminating the multicolored strands that he swore looked exactly like the ones sprouting from his head in that one odd spot near his temple.

Gilbert didn’t realize just how much he missed the cadence of her voice until she started telling him about the troubles at Green Gables. He missed how eloquently words flew from her mouth like music, how she used extensive vocabulary to describe things very plain. He missed her.

“So you like working on the docks?” she asked, when the conversation had steered towards what he’d been up too.

“It’s a means to an end,” he replied, looking up from his hands to her freckled face. “I hope to get head on a steamer soon.”

Anne nodded her head, looking shy all of a sudden. “May I ask, what about your farm?”

“I don’t have to decide right now. I wanna see some of the world first.” Gilbert gestured vaguely to the side. “If I come back to Avonlea, I want it to be my choice, not-not obligation.” He paused. “It’s what my dad would’ve wanted.”

“I owe you an apology,” Anne said out of the blue, surprising Gilbert.

If anything, he owed her one. “No you don’t,” he said shaking his head.

“Yes I do,” she insisted.

“No I should apologize to you.”

“No you shouldn’t.”

“I was rude.”

“But it was my fault.”

Gilbert shook his head amused. He couldn’t help the soft smile that overcame his lips. “Can we please, not argue for once?”

“Can you please stop contradicting me?” Anne asked firmly.

He listened to her heartfelt apology, an empty feeling forming in the pit of his gut at the mention of his father. Gilbert hadn’t realized until that moment just how important Matthew Cuthbert had become to Anne. Sometimes he forgot that she was an orphan, and that the Cuthbert’s were the only family she ever really had.

They left the café eventually. As much as Gilbert wanted to sit and talk to Anne until the sun was down and his throat was scratchy, he did have a job, and it was one he couldn’t afford to lose.

He took his time to redress with all his winter gear, buttoning his jacket slowly and adjusting his scarf longer than he needed too, savoring his time with her. He told himself it was became he didn’t want to return to the docks just yet, but who was he kidding, Gilbert couldn’t even convince himself of that.

“I’ve missed you,” Anne admitted, as they stepped outside into the cold Canadian winter.

Gilbert stopped putting his gloves on, his breath got caught in his throat though he tried to hide it. With his heart beating faster than normal (as it always seemed to do around Anne) he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling like an idiot. “Yea?”

Anne put a gray knot hat over her head. “At school, there’s uh, no one to compete with,” she said.

He felt like an idiot for thinking that she meant anything else. _Of course she doesn’t just miss you, do you not remember her deliberately ignoring you for weeks and hitting you over the head with her slate?_

Still, he’d take it. “You wanna spell out a few words for old times’ sake?” he joked, electing a laugh out of her.

“How about…“Anne started, looking down at shoes. She paused for second, then looked up at Gilbert through her dark red, almost brown, eyelashes. “Truce?”

Anne stuck a gloved hand out hesitantly, her lips curved upwards into a soft smile. Gilbert laughed and grabbed her hand firmly, shaking it gently. Despite the two layers of fabric that lie between their hands, Gilbert could feel a faint heat radiating off of Anne’s small one.

“T-R-U-C-E,” he spelled slowly, letting go of her hand, “Moody would’ve gotten that wrong.”

Anne laughed again, making him smile wider. “He would’ve,” she agreed.

When Gilbert picked up the rest of his stuff the leave begrudgingly, another boy who’s he’d learn later was Jerry, the Cuthbert’s farm hand, showed up with a scrape on his face and a black eye. Apparently he’s been robbed after selling the Cuthbert’s mare.

“Can I help with anything?” Gilbert asked. He looked between Jerry and Anne as she stood up in front of him. “Anything I can do?”

Their eyes met and his heart skipped a beat. “Just… take care of yourself,” Anne said, then let out a deep breath. “Come home someday.”

He thought back to the last time he’d ever looked into her clear blue eyes for this long. They had been filled with fury and hatred at then, a look he really hoped he’d never have to see again. They looked different now. Lighter, hopeful, not so filled with a burning desire to see Gilbert 6 feet underground.

“Yea.” Gilbert nodded his head, a non-binding agreement. He had no clue if he’d ever come back, or where he’d end up. “Hope everything works out.”

“For you too.”

That magnetic pull was back, the one he’d experienced the first time they met. The one he pretended wasn’t there ever since she hit him over the head with her slate and vowed to despise him for ever and ever.

Her blue eyes drifted upwards, focusing on a spot near his temple where his hair met skin. The spot where that tuft of fiery red hair spat out from amidst his dark curls.

Until then, he’d never really thought about what Anne believed him having a streak of hair that matched hers meant. Did she ever think about the possibility that they were meant to be? Or did she not like him so much that it never once crossed her mind?

Anne’s pink lips parted slightly, her eyebrows scrunching together in thought. Gilbert could hear his heart beat in his ears as he let his eyes dart down to her left braid, the one with black weaved into it.

“Wait…” Jerry looked between them. “Are you two s-“

“No,” he and Anne both said quickly, though Gilbert’s heart, soul, brain, and gut instincts all screamed YES.

Jerry looked at the both of them amused and apprehensive, not really believing it himself. Gilbert muttered a quick goodbye and turned around to leave when Anne called out his name. He turned back around and their eyes met one last time, his skin tingled.

She opened her mouth to speak, closed it, glanced up quickly at Gilbert’s red streak of hair and then at his face once more. “I hope you meet her someday,” Anne said finally. “Someday soon. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet her while you’re on your travels.”

He nodded in agreement, forcing himself to give her a smile though his heart was far from into it. “Yea… I hope so too.”

If Gilbert had known that very moment that he wouldn’t see Anne again for almost a year, the conversation might’ve gone differently. He wouldn’t have walked away briskly, fighting the urge to turn back around with every step.

Instead, he would have turned around. He would’ve walked up to her, and asked how she really felt. He would’ve told her that he wasn’t going to meet his soulmate in some far away land across the Atlantic. He would’ve told her that he believed he already met his soulmate… in the forest at the beginning of fall.

But alas, he didn’t know that next time he’d see Anne they’d both be aged a year. How could he have? Gilbert was a man of many talents, but that list didn’t include the ability to foresee the future.

So Gilbert walked towards the docks, not once looking back. In his mind, he kept replaying him and Anne’s last conversation together.

 _I hope you meet her someday. Someday soon_ , Anne had said.

The problem wasn’t that Gilbert had yet to meet his soulmate. The problem was that Gilbert thought he already had… in the forest at the beginning of fall.

And now, he was about to sail halfway around the world… thousands and thousands of miles away from her.

 

* * *

 

The first time Gilbert ever talked about his suspicions with Anne was the day he received a letter from her while docked in Trinidad.

He was laying on his back in bed, letting the sound of waves crashing against the hull and the gentle rocking of the ship lull him to sleep. There was still light chattering going on around him while the mail was being passed out.

The last thing Gilbert expected was for his name to be called. “Gilbert Blythe,” a man said from the front of the floor where the crew slept.

He opened one eye and sat up confused. “Pardon?”

The man didn’t even bothering speaking again. He simply walked over to Gilbert and dumped an off white, almost yellow, envelope on his lap.

Gilbert scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, flipping it over to read who it sent it. His lips parted in surprise. He blinked, his heart skipping a beat as he read over it again to make sure his eyes didn’t deceive him.

It was from Anne Shirley- Cuthbert.

“Who’s got you over there smiling like a moke?” Sebastian asked. He sat up in his own cot which was a few feet away from his.

Gilbert cleared his throat and spared Bash a short glance. “No one. It’s just a letter from back home.”

Bash chuckled and shook his head, pointing a finger accusingly at the young man. “Ah, I’ve been around long enough to know the look a boy gets when he’s gone with a lady Blythe. There’s no use kidding me about it boy.”

He gave Bash a halfhearted glare. “I’m not _gone with a lady_ ,” he responded using finger quotations. “It’s from a friend.” Bash raised any eyebrow. Gilbert let out a sigh of defeat, staring at his lap with a scrunched up nose. “It’s complicated,” he grumbled.

“I’ve got time,” Bash said, then gave Gilbert an expectant look.

Gilbert smiled softly, fiddling with the letter in his hands. “There’s this girl back in Avonlea…Anne. One time I called her Carrots, and she wacked me over the head.”

“I’ll give her right on that,” Bash added.

Gilbert nodded in agreement. “She has fiery red hair and a fiery temper.”

He paused, looking out of the nearby window and out into the vast blue ocean. It reminded him of her eyes, how far away he was from Anne, how far away he was from home. “I wonder if I’ll ever see her again,” he said quietly.

Gilbert could feel Bash’s gaze burning a hole into the side of his head. He turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“You said she had fiery red hair. Does it look like…“ he stopped talking and gestured to Gilbert’s head.

The boy reached a hand up. He ran his fingers along the strands of red that had begun to gradually darken into a more auburn then orange. “Yea,” Gilbert mumbled, pursing his lips. “It’s uncanny really.”

“And she has a streak of black?” Gilbert nodded. Bash looked at him with both surprise and curiosity. “Do you think she’s your...”

“Soulmate?” he finished for him.

The older generations had some sort of weird thing about saying the word. It was something they were taught from a young age not to talk about freely. Gilbert however, wasn’t raised that way. He had no problem saying the word. He’d say it loud and proud given the opportunity.

“I did for a while, after we first met. It was… all I could think about really. But Anne, I don’t know she didn’t really seem to feel the way I did,” Gilbert said, then corrected himself. “The way I do.”

He smacked the envelope against his hand repeatedly. “It’s just, you know I could’ve sworn there was something there, something electric and magnetic. I can never seem to take my eyes off her and, I never felt better than those few times I made her laugh and smile. That stupid left braid of hers with the stupid black streak of hair plagues my mind, I can’t even escape it with sleep. It shows up there too,” he finished grumbling.

Bash snorted and shook his with head with amusement. “And you said you weren’t gone with a lady. What do you call what you feel for this Anne?”

“Inconvenient.”

A bark of laughter. “Ah young love, so pure and sweet.”

“It’s not young love if the other person doesn’t reciprocate feelings Bash,” Gilbert said, giving his friend a pointed look. “Right now it’s only young pain.”

Another spiel of laughter. “You’re too funny Blythe. And how do you that this Anne isn’t gone with you too? She’s had too at least suspect the possibility of you two being,” he gestured vaguely to the side, “after seeing your coordinating colors.”

Gilbert let out a dry laugh and laid backwards onto his cot. He folded his hands across his chest, the letter pressed into his coal stained shirt. “You want to know what the last thing she said to me was. The last thing I heard her say before I left to get on this ship.”

When no verbal objections, he continued. “I was walking away to go to the docks when she called my name out. I turned around expecting her to say- well anything but what she actually said.” He swallowed. “Anne looks me in the eye and goes, _I hope you find her someday, someday soon_.”

“Ouch.”

“Yea…ouch,” Gilbert agreed. “Felt like someone was mowing over my heart with a field plow.” The cot squeaked as he shifted to a more comfortable position. “So, I just gave up on the idea after that, the idea of Anne and I being soulmates. She obviously doesn’t think we are, and there’s no use flogging a dead horse.”

“But you still think you are?” Bash asked slowly.

“Yes…no…I don’t know. I said it’s complicated Bash,” he said, starting to get frustrated just thinking about it. “I used to think we were, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Why? Because she might not feel the same way right now?” Bash scoffed. “News flash, you’re both kids still, feelings can change with time.”

“I know that, it’s just,” Gilbert trailed off, letting out a deep sigh. “Every story I’ve heard about people finding their soulmate makes the whole thing sound so… simple. They meet, and they just know. It’s not like that with Anne. It was, for the half hour I knew her, but now it’s so complicated. Too complicated. So complicated that I’m beginning to think she’s right and we aren’t meant to be because if we were, it would have to be easier than it is right now.”

Bash’s cot creaked as he shifted to get a better look at Gilbert. “A word of advice Blythe, love isn’t simple. It never is. The stories you hear only have the parts in them people want to tell.”

“That’s not advice Sebastian, just a general statement.”

“Fine, you want to know what I would do?” Bash asked, not waiting for an answer. “I wouldn’t give up on her just yet. If Anne really is your soulmate, I think the little bit of extra work you have to put in to be with her will be well worth your while.”

Gilbert knew he meant business the second the word _soulmate_ left Bash’s lips. People over the age of 20 never threw the word around lightly.

It was that night, after he finally gathered up enough nerve to read over the letter, with Bash’s wise words echoing around his head like that of a damp cave, that Gilbert finally decided it was time to return home to Avonlea.

To return home to Anne.

 

* * *

 

The day Gilbert returned to Avonlea was the day his sunset auburn streak of hair turned green.

When the carriage dropped him and Bash off at his farm that afternoon, everything was normal. His house was fine, the barn was in good shape, the fields were a little overgrown with weeds, but nothing he couldn’t fix with a little work.

Not even 3 hours later, when Gilbert went into kitchen to eat what Bash had cooked for supper did things take a turn.

Sebastian was already eating when he sat down at the table. His friend glanced up at him mid bite as Gilbert pulled out a chair to sit in. He coughed and dropped his fork with a loud _clank_ reiterating around the room.

“Good lord Blythe!” Bash sputtered out between coughs, choking on his food. “What have you done to your hair?”

Gilbert scrunched his eyebrows together, very confused. “What?”

Sebastian pointed towards a mirror that hung on the wall next to the sink, still trying to gain his composure. The boy got up hesitantly and walked over to it, not knowing what to expect.

He let out a strangled gasp at the sight before him. “Why is it green?” Gilbert yelped in surprise.

The leaned in closer to the mirror, trying to get a better look. The roots were still red for about an inch while the rest of it was an odd pastel sea green color. He took the once beautiful red strands between his fingers and groaned loudly.

Sebastian, having finally gotten his composure together, started laughing manically. “It’s not funny!” Gilbert whined. “My first day back at school in a year and I have green hair? What kind of luck is that?”

Bash stopped laughing and instead settled for a wide teeth barring grin. “How did you not notice?”

Gilbert went back over to the dinner table and sat down with a huff. “I’ve been unpacking all day and getting ready for school tomorrow. Sorry I haven’t the time to look in a mirror.”

Taking a bite of food, Bash studied Gilbert’s new color further. “The real question we need to be asking is why in the good name of the lord would someone willingly dye their hair that color.” He took another bite of food. “She must be a wild one.”

“Believe me,” Gilbert grumbled between harsh chews. “I’ll definitely be bringing this up when we meet.”

Bash chewed slowly and looked at him questioningly. “So you don’t think it’s Anne?”

“It just, doesn’t make any sense.” Gilbert pushed some food around his plate with the fork he was given, pursing his lips in thought.

“Though I do agree with you, care to elaborate some?”

He put his fork down, sitting backwards into his chair, hands resting on his lap. “I know that Anne isn’t fond of her red hair because she thinks it isn’t pretty and people tease her about it-“

“People like you?” Bash interrupted.

“Oh shut up that was one time.” Gilbert gave him a half-hearted glare. “Anyway,” he continued, “I can’t think of a good reason for her to want to dye her hair green. She’s vexed enough about it as it is, and dying it green is far from a solution.”

Gilbert wasn’t sure how he felt about what he was saying, though he believed it all to be true. If he turned out to be correct, that would mean Anne wasn’t his soulmate after-all. That would mean he’d spent months secretly pining over a girl he wasn’t supposed to be with.

It scared him a little bit, to think about what it meant. What he felt for Anne was indescribable, no arrangement of words in the English language could possibly capture it spot on.

But if Anne wasn’t his soulmate, then how would he feel for the real thing? He thought no one could ever feel more strongly about a person then he did for Anne. At times it seemed to consume him.

“I guess you’ll find out tomorrow then eh?” Bash said, shaking Gilbert from his reverie.

“Yea, I guess so,” he mumbled, it went quiet for a moment. Gilbert then shook his head with a laugh all of a sudden and looked at Bash. “Did you just say _eh_?”

Bash stopped chewing and swallowed harshly. “Oh my good lord I did.”

Gilbert raised his glass for a toast, smiling broadly. “Welcome to Canada Bash.”

He raised a glass to meet his with a _clink_. “No…Welcome home.”

 

* * *

 

Gilbert woke up the next morning for school pleasantly surprised when he saw that the green streak of hair had returned to the red color he had become accustomed to his entire life.

He was both nervous and excited to return to school, so nervous and excited that he couldn’t eat breakfast. Bash forced an apple into his hand before he left the house though, which Gilbert was thankful for 5 minutes later when his stomach growled as he walked to school.

The leaves crunched under his feet as he padded the familiar trail through the forest, leading him to the school house. He passed the spot where he first met Anne all those months ago, not quite believing how much his life had changed since then.

He dumped the apple core in a bare spot of soil to decompose before he walked up the steps to school. Gilbert took a deep breath, and opened the door with as much confidence as he could possibly muster.

Charlie saw him first, doing a double take before yelling. “Gilbert!” A gasp went around a room as everyone turned towards the door and saw him.

He smiled, managing to put his stuff away and hang up his winter clothes before the crowd of boys bombarded him. They corralled him over to his desk like a dog does to a herd of sheep.

He talked to them vaguely of his travels while they caught him up on all the drama that had been going on in Avonlea since he left. Apparently, there was no gold after-all.

If Gilbert had come back to Avonlea expecting to find it, he’d probably be disappointed. But that wasn’t why he came back, and he didn’t tell the boys that. If he did, he’d have to explain the real reason, and Gilbert didn’t feel like telling that story.

The faint sound of the school door creaking open registered in Gilbert’s mind passively. He thought nothing of it. That is, until a quick moment later, everyone went quiet.

And there was only one person in all of Avonlea who could make that kind of entrance into a room.

Gilbert’s heart rate steadily increased as he moved through the crowd of boys into the walkway between the two columns of desks. The whispers around him filled his ears, though they weren’t able to drown out the sound of his own hearts’ beating.

“Anne?” he called out, stepping into her view.

Her eyes widened at the sight of him, a short gasp of surprise escaped her lips. “You’re back,” Anne breathed out, not looking away from him.

“Yes,” Gilbert replied. He could no longer hold back a smile. “Hi.”

Anne got kind of a panicked look on her face. “There’s no gold!” she blurted out. Is that why everyone thought he came back?

He gave an odd look at her strange behavior. “I-I know, I-I heard.”

Gilbert really looked at her for a moment, and felt stupid for not noticing such a drastic change before. His eyes had been too focused on her face, her eyes, and her presence for him to see that Anne’s hair was almost completely gone.

There was a little over an inch of hair in length that sprouted all across her head. He was finally able to get a good look at where the black streak originated from, it had always been hidden by braids before then. It stuck out right above her ear, in spot where it seemed to appear out of nowhere when it was weaved into her left braid.

Anne still looked cute to Gilbert. If it were possible, her eyes seemed even brighter than they did before. Her freckles looked darker and her lips more pink.

He couldn’t help but wonder why she chose to cut all her hair off though. He knew Anne didn’t like her red hair that much, but she couldn’t have hated it _that_ much.

And that’s when it hit him.

“That’s not why I’m here,” Gilbert finally said, not able to take his eyes off her once again. This time though, for a different reason.

His heart pounded so hard against his chest that he was sure everyone around him could hear it. “Did you-“Gilbert paused, looking at her hair once more. “Did you dye your hair green?”

Anne let out a horrified gasp and covered her mouth with one of her dainty little hands. “How did you know that?” she yelped in surprise.

Her reaction answered his question. While everyone around them burst into a fit of snickers at the thought of Anne with green hair, Gilbert’s vision tunneled.

His hand slowly went up to touch his tuft of red hair, the room went silent.

Anne’s eyes followed his movement, her bottom lip quivering as the realization hit her. “Oh,” she breathed out shakily, staring at the piece of hair.

“No way,” Diana mumbled in disbelief from somewhere next to him.

The new boy, who he’d later learn was Cole, let out a short laugh. “Well I’ll be…”

Gilbert dropped his hand back to his side, eyes softening as Anne’s gaze shifted to meet his. He took a small step closer, gaging her reaction.

“It’s really good to see you,” he said, breaking the silence between them.

She did nothing but stare. She didn’t blink. She didn’t breathe. She didn’t speak. Until she took a small step forward. Then another, and another, and another as she rushed forward to close the remaining distance between them, pulling Gilbert into a bone crushing hug.

He let out an _oomph_ as Anne latched her arms around him, pressing her face firmly against his chest. There was no doubt in his mind that she was able to hear his crazy rapid heartbeat now.

It took a second to register with Gilbert, but when it did… when it finally hit him that Anne Shirley-Cuthbert was the girl he was gonna spend the rest of his life with, the one who was going to being with her ethereal love and happiness, he hugged her back with all he had in him.

Anne let out a content sigh, a slow clap from Diana turned into a full on round of applause. Gilbert slid a hand up her back and shoulder blades, coming to a stop to cradle the back of her head against his chest.

“Thank god it’s you.”


End file.
